US supreme court leans towards striking part of Voting Rights Act

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by OKNancy (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Gurardian UK

"...
The US supreme court appeared to be leaning toward striking down cornerstone civil rights legislation that has protected African Americans' right to vote for half a century during a combative hearing on Wednesday.

The justices clashed over whether discrimination is still an issue with one, Antonin Scalia, deriding the legislation under dispute as "perpetuation of racial entitlement". They also disagreed over whether it is for Congress or the courts to decide whether measures that discourage or diminish minority votes require federal intervention.

The case was brought by an Alabama county which argued that the state is being singled out by a provision in the 1965 Voting Rights Act, widely regarded as one of the most important pieces of US civil rights legislation, that subjects states with a history of disenfranchising black people, mostly in the south, to US Justice Department oversight of their election laws and procedures.

...

"In the period we're talking about it has 240 discriminatory voting laws that were blocked by Section 5 objections."

...

The justice likely to be the swing vote, Anthony Kennedy, expressed scepticism about the continuing need for Section 5 and the fact that it is primarily directed at the old segregationist states. "Times change," he commented.

2. yes, I'm afraid this is yesterday's news - locking

Post the latest news from reputable mainstream news websites and blogs. Important news of national interest only.
No analysis or opinion pieces. No duplicates. News stories must have been published within the last 12 hours. Use the published title of the story as the title of the discussion thread.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=about&forum=1014